Everything Michigan coach Sherrone Moore, Wolverines players said about Buckeyes

COLUMBUS — Ohio State is set to face Michigan in The Game on Saturday, and Wolverines coach Sherrone Moore met with the media on Monday to preview the matchup.

“None of that matters in this game,” Moore said about records and betting lines ahead of the game in which Ohio State is a three-score favorite. “It doesn’t matter. The records doesn’t matter, anything, spread that doesn’t matter. It’s all about the game, so we’ve got to go execute. We’ve got to handle what we have to handle to go win.”

Lettermen Row has a recap of everything Moore said about Ohio State and his own team. Let’s get to what Moore had to say.

Note: Many of the quotes are courtesy of the On3 Michigan website ‘The Wolverine.’

On being the acting head coach in last year’s rivalry game…

“I mean, I think it was a lot of collaborative effort with Jesse and with those guys I actually had to make decisions throughout the game, timeouts, all those things. But really the rivalry piece is the rivalry piece. It’s intense, it’s fun, it’s what you want to do. So the strategy last year was to call pretty aggressive and that’s what we did so we’ll continue internally to have those decisions as a group.”

On the Ohio State defense…

“They’re as good as any defense in the country. Complete defense, got great skill, got great talent, do a good job with the scheme, something we’re familiar with, we study, we watch, and they’re a really good team. So we have to go execute at a high level to go win.”

On the crowd noise in the Horseshoe…

obviously crowd noise and practice and doing those things and I think our guys love those environments, so we will definitely increase the crowd noise and you put it in the indoor, it gets pretty loud, but we’ll definitely have to we the elements and create some noise and distraction to outside too to make sure we understand what it was going to be like.

On the emotions of the Ohio State vs. Michigan rivalry…

“I don’t know about an emotional tax. It’s fun. It’s everything you want to be when you grow up as a kid, whether you want to be a coach, whether you want to be a player, this is what you want to do, you want to be in these types of games, so it’s awesome to be a part of. It’s a lot of work. It’s something you think about all year and it’s an exciting time for us.”

On the trenches…

“I think the biggest piece of this game is, it’s the rushing battle. And I think you’ve seen that every year is the team that wins the rushing battle wins the game. So I know they’re focused on the same thing, so that’s got to be an emphasis for us to do.”

On the status of star TE Colston Loveland and DB Will Johnson…

On Will Johnson: “Yeah. I just go by what the doctors say. I can’t confirm or say anything else but what the doctors tell us.”

On Loveland: “We’ll see. I think Colston is trending in a good direction. We’ll get a better feel in the next couple days. The same thing with Will. We’ll see.”

On the Ohio State wide receivers…

“As good of the wide receiver crew as you’ll see in the country, probably. We saw a great one with Texas and Oregon and this one is probably as good or better. Jeremiah Smith is as advertised. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, can make all the tough catches. So we’ve got to do a great job disrupting him. And then you’ve got Emeka Egbuka, you’ve got Carnell Tate, you’ve got Brandon Inniss. So they have a lot of threats out there. So we’ve got to do a good job making them uncomfortable for the quarterback to distribute it to them and then not getting them in their comfort level. So they’re going to make plays, they always do and they roll, but we’ve got to limit those plays.”

What Michigan QB Davis Warren said

“I mean, you come in when I was a freshman, and that win in ‘21 — I’m looking up at the pictures right now — was really one for the ages for us as a program. And then these last two years, just really dominating.”

“Both in ‘22, going down there and getting that win, and then last year to win up here … it really starts with the guys up front, the big boys. They know how we’ve won the game the last couple years, what it’s come down to, and I think they have confidence they can do that.”

“I’m sure a lot of them — just like I’m going to talk to [former Michigan quarterback] J.J. [McCarthy] this week — are going to get some tips and tricks. I know they’ve been talking to those guys that have moved on to the next level, and understand how important this game is and how it starts with them. I think that confidence is going to show on Saturday.”

Michigan safety Quinten Johnson chimes in

“I would say after the end of the ‘21 season, there was never a shadow of doubt in anyone’s mind that we are the more physical, the more dominant team, and we’re the team that should ultimately come out victorious.”

“Doubt and fear — I don’t think that has entered anybody’s mind, especially the guys on this roster. Being nervous or not being able to embrace the moment, that’s not necessarily in anybody’s mind because the expectation is to win.”

“It’s not a shocker: They don’t like us, we don’t like them. Being able to go into Columbus and embrace that villain role, embrace being the underdog in a moment like this, it’s something that’s very motivating. It’s something that every guy in the locker room can look at and look up to.

“Being able to silence the crowd, like we did the last time, is something we can find a lot of fulfillment in.”

“You come to Michigan to beat Ohio. That’s one of the pillars of the Michigan football program, and it’s definitely motivated to go out and do. It doesn’t necessarily change the fact of where we are in the season, but it definitely is one of the defining moments of your career here at Michigan.”